September 15, 2004

Today, U.S. District Court Judge Garret Brown dismissed a lawsuit that had been brought by two New Jersey attorneys seeking to force a special election for the governor’s office.

As I noted here, the basis of the lawsuit was that, by announcing his resignation on August 12th, Governor McGreevey effectively created a vacancy as of that date, and because the “vacancy” existed prior to September 3rd, the State Constitution requires that a special election be held.

The Court ruled that, because the Governor remains in office, no “vacancy” exists, and, as such, there is no requirement for a special election. This means that the president of the senate (Richard Codey) will act as governor (and also remain as the president of the state senate!) through November 2005.

For a while, there had been considerable speculation in the state about whether Governor McGreevey would actually leave office, as promised, on November 15th, given that he had never formally submitted his written resignation. Roberto of DynamoBuzz has written extensively on this (e.g. here), as has Fausta of The Bad Hair Blog (e.g. here). TigerHawk also has weighed in on the question.

The speculation, fueled by stories of Raymond Lesniak, a state senator and McGreevey loyalist, testing the water for a possible McGreevey “un-resignation,” drove both parties in Trenton bonkers. The democrats complained that they are preparing to cash in run the state under the leadership of Richard Codey, the president of the state senate who will replace Governor McGreevey after November 15th and that the possibility of an “un-resignation” is disruptive of that process. The republicans were threatening impeachment proceedings if the Governor were to “un-resign” (He did, after all, put his supremely unqualified boyfriend in charge of New Jersey’s homeland security for $80,000 with an insta-raise to $110,000).

Remember David D’Amiano? He is the large financial contributor and former friend of Governor McGreevey, who was indicted for extorting cash and political contributions from a New Jersey farmer in exchange for favorable treatment by the state in connection with proceedings concerning payment by the state for condemnation of the farmer’s property. I wrote about it here.

In the course of the federal investigation, the Governor had admitted: (a) that he was the person identified in the multi-count indictment as “State Official 1,” and (b) that it was his voice on the tape (the farmer had been wired by the feds) using the word “Machiavelli” during a meeting with the farmer.

The indictment charged that the word “Machiavelli” was a code word to let the farmer know that any state official uttering the word was “in” on the unlawful deal.

Well, today Mr. D’Amiano pleaded guilty to the charges. In the course of pleading guilty (a very formal proceeding held in open court in which the defendant acknowledges understanding the consequences of pleading guilty and admits, under oath, to having, committed the violations charged), Mr. D’Amiano acknowledged that he had spoken to “State Official 1” on Feb. 18, 2003, which prompted the official to say ‘Machiavelli’” at a subsequent meeting with the farmer.

Let’s review, shall we?

– The Governor admits that he is the person identified in the indictment as “State Official 1”

– The Governor admits that it is his voice on the tape using the word “Machiavelli” in a conversation with the farmer.

– The farmer had been told that he should listen for the code word “Machiavelli,” which would signify that the government official saying the word was OK with the bribery deal.

– The farmer meets Governor McGreevey at a political function and the Governor uses the word “Machiavelli”.

– D’Amiano admits that he had spoken with “State Official 1,” which was the cause of State Official 1 using the word Machiavelli when he met with the farmer.

– “Machiavelli” is generally not a word that pops up in most conversations.

For his part, the Governor, through his spokesperson, said that it was D’Amiano who had introduced the word “Machiavelli” into a conversation with him and that he (the Governor) later innocently used the word as a literary allusion when he spoke with the farmer at the political function.

The grand jury investigation is ongoing, as is the hunt for the real killer in the O.J. Simpson case.